The President's Daughter by Mariah Stewart Read Free Book Online

go to Annapolis, but of course he is from a navy family. He and his father both were in Vietnam, and his grandfather served in the South Pacific during the Second World War.”
    “How did you meet?”
    “His younger sister, Carolyn, was a classmate of mine at Beaumont.”
    “Ah, that’s nice. Did you know, when you graduated, that you’d be sisters-in-law someday?”
    “Well, we didn’t exactly graduate together. She, they—Carolyn and the others from my class—graduated a year earlier than I, since I took a year off in high school.” Sarah hesitated slightly, then asked, “Had I mentioned that?”
    “No.”
    “Oh. Well, I traveled a lot with my parents during what would have been my senior year—my dad had a lot of visits and such scheduled that year in Europe and several in South America, so we decided that I’d take that whole year off so that I could go with them. That was the biggest concession I made to being First Daughter.”
    She smiled somewhat wistfully. “Of course, by the time I got back to school in the fall, all of my closest friends had graduated. And after college, well, we all settled in different parts of the country. Got involved in our own lives, our careers, our children. It seems that the only time I ever see my old friends now is at weddings and funerals. The last time, happily, was a wedding.”
    “How long ago was that?”
    “Three or four years ago.” Sarah sighed. “It’s really a shame, but it seems that once your children hit a certain age, your life is no longer your own, between this activity and that. Although with Kirsten getting her driver’s license in another week, I will have a few hours each day when I won’t be on call.”
    “Are you telling me that Sarah Hayward Decker, former First Daughter, is a soccer mom?”
    “Lacrosse mom,” she corrected him good-naturedly. “This is Maryland, you know. We carry sticks down here.”
    “I take it that both of your daughters play?”
    “Every chance they get.”
    “And what is your husband doing now that he’s retired?”
    “Has Julian retired?” She feigned shock. “I hadn’t noticed.”
    She laughed. “Actually, Julian has always been a bit of a secret scholar, so he volunteered to give a lecture class at the Academy this year. He’s loving it to death. And he’s busy writing, trying his hand at fiction. He’s writing a mystery set here in Annapolis. And he is perfecting his golf game.”
    “And you?”
    “I golf right along with him. I play tennis twice a week with friends. I joined a gym. Started lifting weights.” She raised her right arm and pretended to flex a muscle. “Can’t see much improvement, but then again, I’ve only been lifting for three weeks.”
    “You don’t strike me as the weight-lifter type.”
    “Now, now, that is definitely not a PC remark, Mr. Keller.” Sarah took a long sip of tea. “Though I admit that I only took it up because my doctor told me it was a good way to avoid osteoporosis and I thought, why not? I have no aspirations for bodybuilding, but I’m doing quite well. Gray’s wife, Jen, is lifting now, too— she’s becoming the real iron woman in the family. And I’ve even gotten Mother to lift a weight now and then, and though she won’t admit it, she’s building up a muscle or two herself. Not a ladylike endeavor in her circle, but there it is.”
    “What are your best memories of the White House?” Simon asked.
    “Oh, the incredible food,” Sarah laughed. “They had wonderful dinner parties and everyone would be beautifully dressed, long gowns and fantastic jewelry. Elegant people from all over the world. Ambassadors and princes. Movie stars and heads of state. It was like slipping into another world, those parties. And the White House at night, well, it was like a movie scene, only better, because it was real.” She stood up and walked to a wicker armoire, opened the center doors, and scanned a stack of books. She withdrew one and tucked it under